The unit provides
precise control over the amount of mercury inserted into a neon
tube by a simple turn of the control knob. Each drop dispensed is
approximately 25mg. (0.002ml. in volume). Using 3 drops of mercury
per neon unit*, a full injector will hold enough mercury for 100+
units. To refill the injector, simply insert the flexible needle
into your supply bottle of mercury and turn the control knob
counterclockwise. The mercury will be sucked into the injector
body and refill it.

As with all sizes of glass tubing, tubulation glass contains dust,
water vapor, condensed oxides from the drawing process, and other
contaminants on the interior surface of the tubing. The flexible
insertion tube (needle) allows the user to insert the desired
amount of mercury directly into the mercury "bubble" or "trap"
eliminating contamination of the mercury caused by rolling it
through the dirty, contaminated, unheated portion of the
tubulation glass.

When not in use the injector stands upright as pictured. The
Teflon needle is transparent which allows the user to see where
the mercury is inside the needle. The mercury can easily be
retracted all the way, or part of the way back into the injector
body after every use thereby eliminating droplets of mercury
creeping out of the end of the needle, something that is normally
associated with syringe type injectors with stainless steel
needles. As supplied, the Teflon needle is 12" long and can be
easily cut to any desired length.

As mentioned, all wetted parts are inert. This eliminates the
mercury contamination commonly found in syringe type mercury
injectors that utilize a stainless steel needle. Research at the
University Of South Carolina, Department Of Chemistry, revealed
that after extended contact with even high purity stainless steels
mercury 'salts' will begin to degrade the surface of the metal
thereby promoting contamination of the mercury inside the needle.
This contaminated mercury inside the needle is the first to be
inserted into a new unit. Simply stated, contaminated and dirty
mercury will produce contaminated and dirty neon units.

* 3 drops from the injector is approximately 75mg., the amount SVP
recommends for an average size neon unit.

DESCRIPTION:
The REUSABLE MERCURY TRAP is constructed of Pyrex glass
tubing for heat resistance and durability. Each trap consists of
two (2) of our #7* THREADED GLASS COMPRESSION O-RING CONNECTORS,
sealed together with an appropriate size "bubble" or "trap"
blown in the middle to hold the mercury.

The #7 connector on one end uses the standard black plastic
compression cap. This end connects to the manifold
tubulation. The #7 connector on the opposite end uses a
special heat resistant compression cap. This end connects to
the tubulation of an electrode, or a side tubulated neon
unit. This connector is also fabricated with a constriction
just behind the glass threads to facilitate the transfer of
mercury from the bubble into the tubulation.

USE:
The desired amount of mercury is placed in to the bubble of
the REUSABLE MERCURY TRAP (we recommend using our NEON TUBE
MERCURY INJECTOR for this purpose). The end of the trap with
the constriction and the heat resistant cap is connected to
the tubulation of the neon unit to be processed, either a
tubulated electrode or a side tubulation. The end of the
tubulation is slid in to the connector until it is firmly
seated against the constriction. (The end of the tubulation
that is inserted in to the heat resistant cap must be cut
square on the end and lightly fire polished. Tubulated
electrodes are already prepared this way). The other #7
connector, with the black cap, is connected to the manifold
using a short piece of 5mm or 6mm tubulation.

After the neon unit is processed and is filled to the
desired gas pressure, the short piece of tubulation between
the black plastic cap and the manifold is sealed off in the
usual manner, being careful not to get the hand torch too
close to the black cap. The unit is aged first, and then the
mercury is added by rolling it from the bubble in to the
tubulation. The mercury rolls from the bubble, through the
constriction and directly in to the center of the tubulation;
it only touches glass. The REUSABLE MERCURY TRAP is then
sealed off from the neon unit in the usual manner and is
ready to reuse.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS:
Because of the larger diameter, more free flowing 11mm
tubing that the trap is made with and the round, turbulent
free bubble, the mercury will have much less of a tendency
to be 'sucked' out of the trap when opening the main
stopcock. In fact, it is actually difficult to get it to do
so. Also because of the larger diameter tubing used, the
traps provide faster pumping speeds than a hand-made trap of
the same length made of 5mm or 6mm tubulation.